[rkv_hunter]

Originally Posted by dhruvwali

So got the delivery of my car on this Monday. Have driven ~150kms in it now.

Some glimpses of my car below.

Congratulations on the purchase. Looks fantastic. Red was my choice also, overruled by family for the black.

Look forward to your ownership thread.
Laggy camera is a concern as it (a well functioning camera) can be a really useful in tight situations with such a big car. Hope they are able to fix it.

Surprised by the small niggles given that the car has been in the various markets now for about 2 years with these features and sold more than 1 lakh units.

[coolkurt]

Originally Posted by dhruvwali

Some observations below -

Congratulations on your purchase. The car looks great in Red, and I'm glad I made the same colour choice. I had a few queries

Pros

4. How's the interior plastic quality? I found Seltos to be better in that department. Some bits of plastic on the Hector reminded me of my Grande Punto - appalling quality. For eg, check the plastics near the seat belt locks.

6. A lot of people had claimed that the headlights were inadequate and it was bright enough only with the fog lamps on. What's your opinion?

7. I like the sound of that. Powerful engine and road presence. What made me choose the hector. The Crysta is good but safe. Had an Innova in the family for a long time so basically bored.

8. Does the subwoofer plus Amp setup offer good bass?

10. Agreed. MG service experience has been fabulous till date. You feel important. Even if the showroom is crowded.

11. How's the sunroof mechanism? Does it feel solid and well put together?

12. I'm glad to hear that. Delhi summers can get pretty taxing in stop gap traffic.

Cons:

1) They've still not fixed the camera? What a bummer. Both the test drives I took , the 360 degree camera was laggy as hell. The SA had said that an update is coming where they'll fix the lag. Some user on Facebook reported that after the update, the camera is a lot less laggy, albeit the quality is the same. It's the one which brought Apple car play. Maybe you can check with the showroom.

2. Strange. On my test vehicle, the Gaana app was smooth. The rest was pretty laggy. I just saw a video of the Tesla Model 3 and the touchscreen is slick and super smooth. It's 2019. Why can't they make the screen lag free and fluid?

A recent update made it much better according to the FB forum members but it's still not super smooth.

Whether we like it or not, we are the guinea pigs for this. The cons of being early adopters I guess.

4. I thought it was there in the feature list. Maybe I'm mistaken.

Eagerly waiting for your ownership thread. And the photos of your car makes me all the more eager for my Diesel Sharp Hector. Hopefully I'll get it next month.

Originally Posted by rkv_hunter

Surprised by the small niggles given that the car has been in the various markets now for about 2 years with these features and sold more than 1 lakh units.

Yes it is pretty surprising. They claim to have done more than 12 lakh KMs of road testing. The touchscreen fluidity is something that's just unacceptable. And the camera lag. I really hope they'll fix these issues as all it needs is a good developer and software updates.

Cartoq tested the fuel efficiency of the Hybrid in the city( Delhi NCR ):

We drove the car for just over 120 km inside Delhi NCR, driving from one corner of the town (Noida) to the other (Manesar) and then exploring the heart of town at India Gate and Connaught Place. As is the case with our previous fuel economy runs, we always conduct a tankful to tankful method to ensure the error is as low as possible. During fill up, the Hector Hybrid took in 9.76 lites of petrol which translates into a genuine fuel economy of 12.3 kmpl.

Although the above mileage test involves driving on NH8 ( Manesar to Delhi) so it's not exactly a pure city run, which has resulted in decent mileage figures of 12 KMPL.

I'm pretty sure it's part of MG's recent push to project the Petrol and Hybrid as decent city runners.

In a pure city run, including lots of start stop traffic, the hybrid will probably give close to 10 KMPL at max , which is pretty decent considering the weight of the car.

Link to video

[varman742]

Originally Posted by dhruvwali

So got the delivery of my car on this Monday. Have driven ~150kms in it now.

Congratulations dhruvwali ! The car looks fabulous in Red color. Hector is on my list for upgrade in coming months and keen to hear about the ownership experience

[dhruvwali]

Hey coolkurt, please find my responses inline -

Originally Posted by coolkurt

Congratulations on your purchase. The car looks great in Red, and I'm glad I made the same colour choice. I had a few queries

Pros

4. How's the interior plastic quality? I found Seltos to be better in that department. Some bits of plastic on the Hector reminded me of my Grande Punto - appalling quality. For eg, check the plastics near the seat belt locks.

- Interior plastic quality is OK, not great, but not a deal breaker. Also the scratchy plastic photos in this thread where the rear seats seatbelt is shown.

Originally Posted by coolkurt

6. A lot of people had claimed that the headlights were inadequate and it was bright enough only with the fog lamps on. What's your opinion?

- I always drive with fogs on and low beam. In this config in the city havent had any problem yet. No rains yet, so cant confirm that part. High beam could definitely be better. High beams are great for dipper/flashing but true brightness and illumination of halogens are always better.

Originally Posted by coolkurt

8. Does the subwoofer plus Amp setup offer good bass?

- More than enough, i had to dial down the bass in settings to avoid getting a headache after a point (im not a basshead)

Originally Posted by coolkurt

11. How's the sunroof mechanism? Does it feel solid and well put together?

- 0 complaints here, have used a honda city sunroof since past 4 years, the operation here is better than that (cause honda city sunroof rattles a little now after 4 years). Also the moonroof cover is decently opaque to avoid sunlight in. The sunroof is heavily tinted too so doesnt cause excess heat as people were fearing. Coupled with that the AC is very powerful, so people feeling hot isnt a problem. This will be put to true test in Delhi summers.

Originally Posted by coolkurt

Cons:

1) They've still not fixed the camera? What a bummer. Both the test drives I took , the 360 degree camera was laggy as hell. The SA had said that an update is coming where they'll fix the lag. Some user on Facebook reported that after the update, the camera is a lot less laggy, albeit the quality is the same. It's the one which brought Apple car play. Maybe you can check with the showroom.

- I checked with the dealer, my system has 5.04 version, the 5.05 is the one with carplay and supposedly smoother system. They didnt have this version yet, once I get it, will update and share my feedback.

Originally Posted by coolkurt

4. I thought it was there in the feature list. Maybe I'm mistaken.

- Nope, no auto dimming mirror.



---------------------

Some more insights -

More Pros -

1) Suspension is soft, but that leads to great city roads bumps absorption ability. BUT at high speeds this soft suspension leads to more up-down motion than a tighter suspension could have achieved. Coming from a honda city and an i20 this suspension is a fantastic upgrade

2) Noise insulation from outside is exceptional. The door seals and rubber beading all around is top notch. Full wheel cladding all across. A lot of other cars can learn from here. Tyres are silent too (Goodyear Assurance)

3) Front visibility is great, especially from driver's seat. Easy to drive this car due to this.

4) A pillar and ORVMs are not at all obstrusive, unlike Harrier and have not seen much blind slots here.

5) Dead pedal is usable and the footwell area is wide spread. The not so visible areas in footwell are also neatly tucked.



More Cons -

1) Rear windhield is tiny and IRVM range of road being visible due to this is very less




2) Man I wish Hector had ventilated seats, the art leather seats arent even perforated, so back can get hot and sweaty in summers.

3) Spare is a steel rim

[coolkurt]

Originally Posted by dhruvwali

Hey coolkurt, please find my responses inline -

.....

Glad to hear that. I'm okay with the plastic quality as long as it's durable. Although coming from a Honda Civic, which had really good plastics all around, it'll take some getting used to.

Glad to hear about the sunroof. It's been the crux of all negative criticism of the hector of late, for no solid reason.

I loved the suspension in the city drive too. It's only in the highways where it might get a little jumpy. Fast cornering is definitely out.

Good point about the cladding. Most manufacturers skimp costs here. The NVH levels are stellar. Even in the Diesel.
And I felt that the FIAT engine will deliver decent mileage in the city too.

The rear windshield is pretty small. Guess one will have to rely on the rear camera while reversing - something I've never done till date - prefer the old school approach.

The powerful AC should be able to avoid it being too uncomfortable I hope. The ventilated seats and the Air purifier were two things that I liked on the Seltos.


I thought the updates were going to be OTA and not require a visit to the dealership. Maybe they haven't activated the same yet.

New upcoming feature in the Infotainment System

There's a new feature that's going to be added soon which is termed as 'Chitchat' where the voice assistant will be enabled to engage in small talk.

For example a "thank you MG" will be acknowledged. " how's the weather?" etc will be replied to etc etc.

As of now, when you commend or say something other than the pre decided command, the voice assistant just says "pardon"?

It'll be interesting to see this implementation as it'll make it more up to date in line with modern voice assistants like Google and Alexa which can reply to random queries or comments.

Might be rolled out in the coming months. There are other updates being planned as well, hopefully we'll know about them soon. Added language support may be on the cards too.

It's nice to see MG taking customer feedback and adding requested features.

[s4ch]

Originally Posted by coolkurt

6. A lot of people had claimed that the headlights were inadequate and it was bright enough only with the fog lamps on. What's your opinion?

Are there any upgrade options for the Hector headlight setup? HID's etc? Wonder if MG would raise a fuss with regards to warranty if this was done?

Originally Posted by dhruvwali

I always drive with fogs on and low beam.

Oh no you're one of them! You do realise that this is terrible driving practice? Fog lights, when used in the conditions they are NOT designed for, i.e. when it is NOT foggy, have a terrible glare and can seriously cause problems for oncoming traffic. Fog lights are supposed to be used when conditions reflect their name, i.e. FOG! Please consider using just your low beam when it is not foggy, especially in city conditions. Many thanks.

[dhruvwali]

Originally Posted by s4ch

Oh no you're one of them! You do realise that this is terrible driving practice? Fog lights, when used in the conditions they are NOT designed for, i.e. when it is NOT foggy, have a terrible glare and can seriously cause problems for oncoming traffic. Fog lights are supposed to be used when conditions reflect their name, i.e. FOG! Please consider using just your low beam when it is not foggy, especially in city conditions. Many thanks.

Disagree. Misaligned or retrofitted fog lamps, especially HIDs in fog lamps are what I've seen to cause glare.

The prefitted fogs of the hector (or my other cars - honda city, i20 elite) have the beam pattern angled downwards, I've rarely found it to cause glare at all.

[Roadster17]

First of all congratulations to all who have received the MG hector and to those who are waiting for the same. Looking at the September sales, it is a blockbuster on Indian road. Almost unprecedented. I have seen the car and here are my couple of honest cents. Might be tickling to some and probing for others, so please excuse.

1. Looks and Design - Is subjective. I might not like Tokyo as a city and prefer Osaka but for some it is always Tokyo. Agreed the road presence from the front is menacing. When you look Hector following you in your IRVM, you want to move out of the way. The LED headlamps and the grille are awesome. But for me the awesomeness is design ends the moment I see side ways. It looks real ugly , a elongated VAN with puny tyres. Really an eye sore. And when it actually overtakes ( after you slow down, or else it will struggle to overtake ) the Audi copied tail lamps, the plastic silver painted diffusers looks like an utterly Chinese aftermarket product. If that was not all they have a screaming logo "INTERNET INSIDE". Seriously!

2. Performance - Diesel - No complaints. In fact if at all you have to get one it has to be a diesel in Hector. Petrol DCT is such an unpleasant car for an enthusiast. You have an engine which is smooth and silent and thats it. Nothing else. Acceleration - Flops, Fuel Economy - well lets be honest. we should not expect any good returns from a turbo petrol which weighs so much., In gear acceleration - don't even ask, Top whack - what is that.?, driving dynamics - Forget it. It can not compare itself with any other petrol autos CSUV in terms of driving fun ( Seltos DCT, JC DCT, Creta Auto, Ecosport Auto or even XUV 300 .)

3. Perceived quality and built- I am using "perceived" as we don't have NCAP ratings yet. The car looks like it is well built. Doors are heavy to an extent that it is inconvenient at times to close ( especially by children and elderly folks). Sorry, it is no comparison yet to VW, Jeep, and other Germans. I will rate Harrier to be better built. Interior looks good however the materials dont give you any sense of premiumness. Seltos gives that. Just a point in case - The sunroof blind - This is so thin that it matches to a household mosquito nets.

4. Safety - I will rate it as a decently equipped car in its top variant. No second thought. It is one of the better safety equipped cars in Indian market under 30 lakhs. However there are some very important safety features missing - Among those missing I think the most important safety mechanism is the Electronic Roll Mitigation system which is a must in any SUV with high center of gravity. And when you know that Hector has lot of body roll it becomes even more imperative to have one. Even if it has, its not publicly documented. But still kudos to MG to pack with this kind of safety pack.

5. Hello MG - Enough has been said. This is where future lies when interactive voice command will replace switches. Case in point Skoda Octavia 2020. However the work in Hector is in beta stage and there are lot of niggles reported. But these are software issues and should be taken care of by MG. My only gripe is that what happens when I am driving in rain and some one in car plays a prank and says open sunroof. Personally I would have liked manual clickable switches for important function as well.

So in total, Hector DCT is a car for those who don't want to drive and who would enjoy the reclining back seat with loads of space around to move. A person who is bigger in size than an average Indian ( for whom puny Seltos,JC, Creta is more than enough). A person who wants to make a statement of owning a big and exclusive car. Did I said Exclusive ( the rate at which it is selling it wont be exclusive at all in 6 months, already seeing lot of them around me in Delhi NCR).

Hope Hector turns out to be a good machine in long run apart from being a "Human thing" as it is certainly a path breaker in terms of its efforts.

[s4ch]

Originally Posted by dhruvwali

Disagree. Misaligned or retrofitted fog lamps, especially hids in fog lamps are what cause glare.

The prefitted fogs of the hector (or my other cars - honda city, i20 elite) have the beam pattern angled downwards, I've rarely found it to cause glare at all.

Sorry simply not true. There is a reason why many international driving codes prohibit use of the Fog lights when the conditions are not foggy. In these countries you are likely to even get fined for misuse of fog lights. As an example please see rule no. 236 of the UK Highway Code:

Rule 236
You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves.

Note: when the word ‘MUST’ is used in The Highway Code it denotes a legal requirement.

I know that in the past you could even get fined £30, and I believe this amount has even increased now and you may even get 3 penalty points on your licence (12 points leads to a ban).

I seriously doubt that manufacturers in India have modified fog lights to "have the beam pattern angled downwards" as you have mentioned is the case on your cars - I think you might be mistaken regarding that.

Hope this information helps to lead to a better and safer driving habit. All the best.

[dhruvwali]

Originally Posted by s4ch

Sorry simply not true. There is a reason why many international driving codes prohibit use of the Fog lights when the conditions are not foggy. In these countries you are likely to even get fined for misuse of fog lights. As an example please see rule no. 236 of the UK Highway Code:



Note: when the word ‘MUST’ is used in The Highway Code it denotes a legal requirement.

I know that in the past you could even get fined £30, and I believe this amount has even increased now and you may even get 3 penalty points on your licence (12 points leads to a ban).

I seriously doubt that manufacturers in India have modified fog lights to "have the beam pattern angled downwards" as you have mentioned is the case on your cars - I think you might be mistaken regarding that.

Hope this information helps to lead to a better and safer driving habit. All the best.

Thanks for the info, this is interesting information and I like to believe I drive sensibly, so any safety related info I am very cautious on.

Rear fog lamps are blinding, I agree.

Front fog lamps, I have not seen this in any of my cars. I donot find them blinding on other cars too with factory fitted fogs. Will try to do a video review of this to make my point. However if UK has this rule then it must be with good reason. Will try to curtail my fog lamps usage and share feedback on illumination.

Again, thanks for enlightening me with this info.

Originally Posted by Roadster17

So in total, Hector DCT is a car for those who don't want to drive and .....

I actually would like to disagree here. The automatic offers an unparalleled ease of driving in the city, it is definitely not for spirited driving, gearbox is too confused when accelerating hard or braking and pressing accelerator and the engine wouldve benefited from a 1.8-2L engine. The power delivery is delayed by a second or two too, but if you drive sedately (half throttle most of times) you will be perfectly happy with this car.

This comes from a person who loves his ANHC ivtech and loves to rev it when open roads and no traffic.

Infact the Hector diesel has a heavy clutch for me and I cant imagine driving it day in day out (the torque and power of that engine is far better though).

[Roadster17]

Originally Posted by dhruvwali

I actually would like to disagree here.
======
Infact the Hector diesel has a heavy clutch for me and I cant imagine driving it day in day out (the torque and power of that engine is far better though).

Buddy , Please don't mind but my intention was only to mention it is not a fun car to drive spiritedly. And that you have agreed. It might be a good city mover, but on a open freeway you will crave for that zing and you will want your ivtec badly. Any fast overtake will need very very clear planning in advance. IVTEC are surely the best NA engine < 2000 cc in India. Hector surely needs 1.8 turbo in its arsenal. Wallowing suspension at high speed and insane amount of body roll will not allow you to push it anyways.

Now in a city where I live and drive ( NCR), enjoying the drive in daily commute is next to impossible. Fear of rubbing, scratching,speed traps, traffic police does not allow you to enjoy. It is only when you venture out of town you will enjoy the drive and have fun with your car. In city, traffic lights, traffic, motorycles,autos, buses will not allow you to enjoy the ease of driving any better than 7 lacs AMT/TC. Add to that the bulk and high centre of gravity.

[dhruvwali]

Originally Posted by Roadster17

Buddy , Please don't mind but my intention was only to mention it is not a fun car to drive spiritedly. And that you have agreed. It might be a good city mover, but on a open freeway you will crave for that zing and you will want your ivtec badly. Any fast overtake will need very very clear planning in advance. IVTEC are surely the best NA engine < 2000 cc in India. Hector surely needs 1.8 turbo in its arsenal. Wallowing suspension at high speed and insane amount of body roll will not allow you to push it anyways.

Now in a city where I live and drive ( NCR), enjoying the drive in daily commute is next to impossible. Fear of rubbing, scratching,speed traps, traffic police does not allow you to enjoy. It is only when you venture out of town you will enjoy the drive and have fun with your car. In city, traffic lights, traffic, motorycles,autos, buses will not allow you to enjoy the ease of driving any better than 7 lacs AMT/TC. Add to that the bulk and high centre of gravity.

I dont mind your words at all

You can eke out enjoyment in a car drive anywhere, I love my drive from noida to faridabad now in this car (even in peak traffic) with its good audio, smooth engine, silent cabin and easy to manoeuvre steering. I rarely drive above 80 anyways in the city (even where permissible example - noida expressway). In fact the cabin is so silent that the pickup is surprisingly deceptive.

I dont realise I'm doing 70kmph in the Hector. in my ANHC i can hear the roar of the engine when pushed (which is awesome), but i am also acutely aware of the road and the speed due to the relatively stiffer suspension.

This is not a car to be cornered hard on, but rather enjoy on a fully auto mode. As an example I enjoy not having to do 100 gear shifts each day in traffic, while towering over everyone on the road.

As for the inter city highway, I am travelling to outstation next weekend and will share my feedback on it.

[Roadster17]

Originally Posted by dhruvwali

I dont mind your words at all

You can eke out enjoyment in a car drive anywhere, I love my drive from noida to faridabad now in this car (even in peak traffic) with its good audio, smooth engine, silent cabin and easy to manoeuvre steering. I rarely drive above 80 anyways in the city (even where permissible example - noida expressway). In fact the cabin is so silent that the pickup is surprisingly deceptive.

As for the inter city highway, I am travelling to outstation next weekend and will share my feedback on it.

Agree Man! I bet you like Ghazals and Sufi songs as well to go along.
Ok. Then let's put it like this : if you only want a relaxed and convenient drive without the punch of a spirited drive you can buy Hector petrol DCT or else look somewhere else. But then someone might say his Wagon R AMT also gives the same feeling
Will wait for your review of Inter city drive though !

[dhruvwali]

Originally Posted by Roadster17

Agree Man! I bet you like Ghazals and Sufi songs as well to go along.
Ok. Then let's put it like this : if you only want a relaxed and convenient drive without the punch of a spirited drive you can buy Hector petrol DCT or else look somewhere else. But then someone might say his Wagon R AMT also gives the same feeling
Will wait for your review of Inter city drive though !

Haha, lots of genres give me audio nirvana, sufi/ghazals being some of them.

Wagon R AMT cannot give you the SUV feel, looks or these space and features.

Spirited drives are the not the only requirements of enthusiasts. I'm an auto enthusiast, but I have different needs at different times.

[Roadster17]

Originally Posted by dhruvwali

Haha, lots of genres give me audio nirvana, sufi/ghazals being some of them.

Wagon R AMT cannot give you the SUV feel, looks or these space and features.

Spirited drives are the not the only requirements of enthusiasts. I'm an auto enthusiast, but I have different needs at different times.

Well said! Different needs at different times. But what about that time when you want spirited ride. I have already written that somebody loves Osaka and some one Tokyo. It all depends on your needs and priority. I am sure you would have seen your priority and got the car. Just wanted to make it clearer for future buyers what they should expect from it. If their needs are same as yours they would be happy. And bottom line is "No car is perfect". Enjoy your ownership and I will look out for a red hector on Noida- Kalindi Kunj- Faridabad and give you a wave..